Etan Thomas: The Activist Athlete

Etan Thomas attended Syracuse University where he played basketball and graduated with a degree in Business Management. In 2000, the year in which he was selected to the first team, All Big East, he was drafted number 12 in the NBA draft and went on to play as a center and power forward for the Washington Wizards, Oklahoma City Thunder and Atlanta Hawks. But this man is far more than a member of the elite group of men that were good enough to play in the NBA. He's a study in resilience and inspiration. During the Wizard's training camp for the 2007 to 2008 season, a routine physical examination revealed that he had a leaking aortic valve requiring open-heart surgery.

The surgery was a success. And a year later, he returned to play again for the Wizards. And in this first game back, he had 10 points and eight rebounds. Yet our guest has passions and genius well beyond athletics. He's a prolific writer, thinker, advocate, and activist. He wrote a book of poetry called More Than an Athlete, in which he addresses big issues, such as the death penalty, racism and abortion.

He coauthored his autobiography Fatherhood: Rising to the Ultimate Challenge, in which he discusses his own childhood without a father. In another book of poetry and essays, Voices of The Future, he collaborates with today's youth to tackle topics such as police brutality, wars, HIV, and even religion. And his most recent anthology, We Matter, relies in part on interviews of other athletes, activists, and scholars to educate, question, and inspire.

He's also written for the Huffington Post, Washington Post, CNN and ESPN, and he still likes basketball too. As he is a writer and podcaster for basketballnews.com. He's the recipient of the 2010 National Basketball Players Association Community Contribution Award as well as the 2009 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Foundation, Inc. Legacy Award.

Seeking the Extraordinary is sponsored by The Colony Group. For more information and to contact Michael Nathanson visit www.thecolonygroup.com